Typical computing devices may include several technical methods for user authentication. For example, a computing device may support password authentication, biometric authentication (e.g., fingerprint, iris, and/or retina scanning), physical token authentication, or other technical authentication measures. However, many of those authentication methods may be defeated by coercing the user to release credentials, for example by the threat of force. For example, a thief may force the user to withdraw funds from an automated teller machine (ATM), or an attacker may force a user to decrypt sensitive documents. Typical computing devices may prevent coerced authentication by providing two passwords to the user: the user's regular password and a “distress” password that may trigger a security response. The use of a distress password may not be possible with biometric authentication or other advanced authentication techniques.
Typical computing devices may also provide anti-theft or anti-intrusion features. For example, some devices allow a user, administrator, or other operator to send a platform disable message to the computing device in the event of theft or loss. As another example, some intrusion detection solutions use network sniffers and traffic analysis software to identify anomalies in network traffic. An operator may monitor for anomalies, and may similarly lockdown or otherwise disable the platform. Typical anti-theft, anti-intrusion, or other anti-attack features thus require human intervention to identify the attack scenario and take appropriate action.